Recording apparatus with means for preheating

Abstract

A heat transfer recording apparatus of the present invention reliably separates an ink sheet and recording paper which have been joined at recording of immediately before from each other when ink of the ink sheet is transferred to recording paper to record an image. More concretely, when an ink sheet and recording paper are transported to record an image of a noticed line, a recording head is heated on the basis of the image data of the line recorded immediately before. As a result, the ink of the ink sheet is melted and therefore the sheet and the recording paper can be separated easily.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A heat transfer recording apparatus which records images on a recording medium by transferring an ink contained in an ink sheet to said recording medium, comprising: ink sheet transport means for transporting said ink sheet;   recording medium transport means for transporting said recording medium;   recording means for recording images on said recording medium by acting on the ink sheet;   judging means for judging whether or not an image data to be recorded next is ready for recording;   first heating control means for controlling heating of said recording means when the judging means has judged that a next image to be recorded next is being prepared;   second heating control means for controlling heating of said recording means immediately before the image data to be recorded next is recorded when more than a predetermined time is required before the next image to be recorded next is produced; and   control means for controlling driving of said ink sheet transport means and driving said recording medium transport means so as to transport said ink sheet and said recording medium to record the next image when said judging means has judged that the preparation of the image data to be recorded next is completed and said first or said second heating control means has heated said recording means.   
     
     
       2. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first and said second heating control means heat said recording means so that a heat producing energy becomes lower than during ordinary recording. 
     
     
       3. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first and said second heating control means heat said recording means on a basis of the image data recorded immediately before. 
     
     
       4. A heat transfer recording apparatus that records images by transferring an ink from an ink sheet to a recording medium based on one line of image data being prepared one after the other, comprising: ink sheet transport means for transporting the ink sheet;   recording medium transport means for transporting said recording medium;   recording means having heat producing resistor elements needed for the recording of one line, for recording images by heating said heat producing resistor elements which correspond to said image data;   judging means for judging whether or not image data from a next line having an image to be recorded is prepared after one line of image is recorded by the recording means;   first heating control means for controlling heating of the recording means when the judgment means has judged that the image from the next line to be recorded is being prepared;   second heating control means for controlling heating of the recording means immediately before recording based on the image data from the next line to be recorded is performed when more than a predetermined time is required before the image data from the next line to be recorded is prepared; and   control means for controlling driving of said ink sheet transport means and driving of said recording medium transport means so as to transport said ink sheet and said recording medium in order to record the next image when said judging means has judged that preparation of the image data to be recorded next is completed and said first or said second heating control means has heated said recording means.   
     
     
       5. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said first and second heating control means heat said recording means so that a heat producing energy becomes lower than during ordinary recording. 
     
     
       6. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said first and second heating control means heat said recording means based on the image data recorded immediately before. 
     
     
       7. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a predetermined heat producing energy is divided and said recording means is heated at one recording time. 
     
     
       8. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said ink sheet is a multiprint ink sheet and said control means controls said recording medium transport means so as to transport one line of said recording medium and transport 1/n line (n: integer of 1 or more) of said ink sheet. 
     
     
       9. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a transport direction of said ink sheet transport means is opposite to a transport direction of said recording medium transport means. 
     
     
       10. A heat transfer recording apparatus which records images on a recording medium by transferring an ink contained in an ink sheet to said recording medium, comprising: ink sheet feeding means for feeding said ink sheet;   recording medium feeding means for feeding said recording medium;   recording means for recording images on said recording medium by acting on said ink sheet, said recording means including a plurality of heat producing elements, each of said plural heat producing elements being driven selectively; and   control means for controlling driving of said plural heat producing elements after an object image recording has been finished and before a next image recording is started,   wherein said control means drives said plural heat producing elements with a first energy and then drives said plural heat producing elements with a second energy different from said first energy after the object image recording has been finished and before the next image recording is started.   
     
     
       11. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said first energy is less than said second energy. 
     
     
       12. A heat transfer recording apparatus which records images on a recording medium by transferring an ink contained in an ink sheet to said recording medium, comprising: ink sheet feeding means for feeding said ink sheet;   recording medium feeding means for feeding said recording medium;   recording means for recording images on said recording medium by acting on said ink sheet, said recording means including a plurality of heat producing elements, each of said plural heat producing elements being driven selectively; and   control means for controlling driving of said plural heat producing elements after an object image recording has been finished and before a next image recording is started,   wherein said control means drives said plural heat producing elements with a first energy and then drives said plural heat producing elements with a second energy different from said first energy after the object image recording has been finished and before the next image recording is started, and wherein said control means drives said plural heat producing elements with said first energy until a predetermined time as passed since the object image recording has been finished and before the next image recording is started, and drives said plural heat producing elements with said second energy after said predetermined time has passed.   
     
     
       13. A heat transfer recording apparatus which records images on a recording medium by transferring an ink contained in an ink sheet to said recording medium, comprising: ink sheet feeding means for feeding said ink sheet;   recording medium feeding means for feeding said recording medium;   recording means for recording images on said recording medium by acting on said ink sheet, said recording means including a plurality of heat producing elements, each of said plural heat producing elements being driven selectively; and   control means for controlling driving of said plural heat producing elements after an object image recording has been finished and before a next image recording is started,   wherein said control means drives said plural heat producing elements with a first energy and then drives said plural heat producing elements with a second energy different from said first energy after the object image recording has been finished and before the next image recording is started, and wherein said control means refrains from driving said plural heat producing elements with said second energy if the next image recording by said recording means is possible and a predetermined time has not yet passed.   
     
     
       14. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claims 10, 12 or 13, wherein said recording means further comprises a plurality of heat producing elements for an amount of one line, and said object image and said next image are each images of one line. 
     
     
       15. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 14 wherein said recording medium feeding means feeds said recording medium with a first amount of feeding every time that the image recording for one line is performed and said ink sheet feeding means feeds said ink sheet with a second amount of feeding every time that the image recording for one line is performed. 
     
     
       16. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said ink sheet is a multiprint ink sheet and said second amount of feeding is less than said first amount of feeding. 
     
     
       17. A heat transfer apparatus according to claim 15, wherein a feeding direction of said recording medium and a feeding direction of said ink sheet are opposite to each other. 
     
     
       18. The heat transfer apparatus according to claim 16, wherein a feeding direction of said recording medium and a feeding direction of said ink sheet are opposite to each other. 
     
     
       19. A heat transfer recording apparatus according to claims 10, 12, or 13, wherein said first and said second energy are less than the energy supplied to said heat producing elements when the image recording is performed.